William Banta, Indian fighter, Civil War soldier, and autobiographer, was born in Warrick Co., Indiana on June 23, 1827, the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Barker Banta. The family immigrated to Texas in 1839 and settled briefly at Clarksville in Red River County. The following year, the Isaac Banta family moved to Lamar County; they finally settled on Bullard Creek, not far from Bonham in Fannin County, where Isaac Banta was the first Justice of the Peace.

William Banta moved to Austin in 1849, then to Burnet, where he married Lucinda Hairston on March 3, 1850. This was the first marriage in that county.

William Banta organized and commanded the first company of minutemen in Burnet Co. and participated in nearly every engagement against Indians in the region throughout the 1850s. He saw service on the Texas frontier during the Civil War as lieutenant, then Captain, of Company A of the Frontier Regiment.

His baptism into the Church of Christ was the first in Williamson Co. (later Burnet Co.) He became a gospel preacher and officated at the marriages of at least two of his daughters, Ellen and Kittie.

With J. W. Cadwell, he wrote an account of his life as a Texas Ranger titled "Twenty-seven Years on the Texas Frontier," first published in 1893. It was published again in 1933 by his grandson L. G. Park of Council Hill, Oklahoma. In the book, "Twenty-seven Years on the Texas Frontier", so much more is written about his first-hand accounts of life on the Texas frontier.

First Marriage: 03 Mar 1850 ,​ Williamson,​ Texas
spouse: Lucinda Hairston
groom's name: William Banta
bride's name: Lucinda Hairston
marriage date: 03 Mar 1850
marriage place: , Williamson, Texas
indexing project (batch) number: M59402-5
system origin: Texas-VR
source film number: 1007899
"Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973," index
*Source Citation FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V2MK-L4G : accessed 9 April 2012), William Banta (1850).

Even though his military tombstone shows his year of death as 1890, William Banta married his second wife, Althea Ann Jeffers Cadwell in 1893. She was the widow of John Thomas Wesley "J. W." Cadwell (1824-1868).

Second Marriage: 24 Aug 1893 ,​ Bell,​ Texas
spouse: A. A. Cadwell
Groom's name: William Banta
Source Citation
indexing project (batch) number: M59134-5
system origin: Texas-VR
source film number: 981037
reference number: 2:R3WNKG
"Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973," index,
* Source Citation FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FX38-TJB : accessed 9 April 2012), William Banta (1893).


Children of Capt. William Banta and Lucinda Hairston Banta:

1. Elizabeth "Eliza Jane" Banta McGowen
(b.March 1, 1851 - d.Jun 13, 1930)

2. Isaac Henry Banta
(b. Jan. 21, 1853 - d. Aug. 11, 1867)

3. Mary Ann Banta Greer
(b. Nov. 15, 1854 - d. Aug 26, 1934)

4. William Milton "Will" Banta
(b.July 25,1856 - d. Jan. 11, 1935)

5. Margaret "Maggie" Banta Wolfe
(b.Jan. 29,1859 - d. Oct 2, 1946)

6. Ellen Banta Thomas
(b. Sept. 24, 1860 - d. Aug. 30, 1924)

7. Wilson Pickens "Preston" Banta
(b. July 25, 1862 - d. Aug. 2, 1925)

8. Kittie, "Katherine" or "Kate" Banta Park
(b. March 17 1864 - d. Oct. 30, 1936)

9. Dixie Banta
(b. Dec. 27, 1865 - d. Sept 13,1868)

10. Susan Banta
(b. Dec. 6, 1867 - d. 1950)

11. Laura Cadwell Banta
(b. Oct. 6, 1870 - d. March 13, 1894)

12. Fannie Banta
(b. Aug. 31, 1873 - d. Nov. 28, 1874)

13. John David Banta
(b. October 9, 1874 - d. June 8, 1954)

14. Nora Banta
(b. Apr. 17, 1878 - d. July 17, 1878)